UN must react to Bashar al-Assad’s crackdowns

15 février 2012

The Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament fully support the Arab’s League proposal to deploy a joint UN/Arab peacekeeping mission in Syria and invite the Security Council to immediately adopt a resolution to this effect.

The S&Ds strongly condemn the blind brutality of Bashar al-Assad’s regime against the Syrian population, particularly in the city of Homs, and call once again for an immediate end to the violent repression and for the immediate removal of troops and tanks from all Syrian cities.

Said S&D vice president Véronique De Keyser:

« The Syrian regime has failed to comply with its obligations under international human rights law and President Bashar al-Assad bears the ultimate responsibility as the constitutional head of the Syrian state.

« We call urgently for an immediate end to violent crackdowns and harassment of peaceful demonstrators and their families, to violence against humanitarian workers, and to sexual violence and torture against anyone opposing the regime, including children. We also call for the immediate release of all detained protesters, political prisoners, human rights defenders, bloggers and journalists, and for full access to the country for international humanitarian and human rights organisations, as well as the international media.

« We reiterate our call for President Bashar al-Assad and his regime to step aside immediately to allow a peaceful and democratic transition to take place in the country.

« We welcome the commitment of the EU to continue to build international pressure on the Syrian regime and we support the decision of the Foreign Affairs Council of 23 January 2012 to introduce new restrictive measures against the Syrian regime and we call for further targeted sanctions. »